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Baseball: That old Yankees' myth now centers on Damon

NEW YORK — Johnny Damon had barely arrived in New York when he found himself being anointed as the next in line of succession of great center fielders for the New York Yankees, the latest to take on the role that is widely viewed as the most glamorous in sports.

Nonsense. If there is a truly trite and overblown notion in sports, it is the myth of the Yankees' center fielders.

The Yankees have had three great center fielders, the first of whom most of us easily forget. All three are in the Hall of Fame: Earle Combs, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. The line ended with Mantle nearly 40 years ago, and it has not regenerated itself, no matter what fans of Bernie Williams think.

Except for two years of Ben Chapman in the mid-1930s, Combs, DiMaggio and Mantle basically covered center field at Yankee Stadium for 40 years, from 1925 through 1966.

But when Mantle became a first baseman in 1967, Joe Pepitone replaced him and began a succession of center fielders who were never confused with Hall of Famers: Ron Woods, Bobby Murcer, Elliott Maddox, Mickey Rivers, Bobby Brown, Jerry Mumphrey, Omar Moreno, Rickey Henderson - an almost certain Hall of Famer, but as a left fielder - Claudell Washington and Roberto Kelly.

None of these players assumed the mantle of Mickey and Joe, or Earle, for that matter.

Forty years ago, we were told that Murcer would be next in the line. The similarities were too striking to ignore. An Oklahoman who reached the major leagues as a shortstop, then was switched to center field, he would be the reincarnation of Mantle.

He never was, of course, and Bob Fishel, the Yankees' great public relations man, acknowledged that he had taken Murcer's similarities to Mantle and overhyped him.

Murcer was a solid player for several seasons, but the Yankees conceded he was not the next Mantle with a two-step process. First, Manager Bill Virdon switched Murcer to right field, believing Maddox would be a better center fielder, which he was. Then general manager Gabe Paul traded Murcer to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Bonds after the 1974 season.

Williams was the center fielder in the second halves of 1991 and 1992, then took over the position through last season, when he surpassed Mantle - 1,828 games in center to Mantle's 1,745 - to become the Yankee with the most games played in center.

Still, as important as longevity and popularity may be, they don't earn Williams a place in the line of royal succession.

Williams has been a solid player - he hit better than .300 for eight consecutive seasons - and he contributed significantly to the Yankees' postseason successes, but he was not the Gold Glove outfielder he was voted to be from 1997 through 2000, and he was not a dominant hitter in the American League.

Nor will he be a serious candidate for the Hall of Fame five years after he retires, as Combs, DiMaggio and Mantle were.

Williams has been a good player but not a great player. And in his years with the Yankees, Damon can reasonably be expected to be a good center fielder but not a great one.

Greatness does not come along as often as it would have to for the Yankees to have a DiMaggio or a Mantle out in center field on an annual basis. Mythmakers aside, the Yankees have had mixed success with center fielders.

In 1984, looking for the best answer, manager Yogi Berra tried platooning center fielders for a while. His problem was that the two players he platooned, Moreno and Ken Griffey Sr., were left-handed hitters.

When the Yankees acquired Henderson before the 1985 season, he had primarily been a left fielder in his first six seasons with Oakland, playing 742 games in left and 42 games in center. The Yankees, however, needed a center fielder.Henderson was the center fielder in his first two years with the Yankees and managed to steal 167 bases, leading the league both seasons.

Now comes Damon. He should give the Yankees better outfield coverage than Williams, who too often didn't get to balls he should have, though like Williams, Damon has a weak throwing arm. In his four years with the Red Sox, Damon had 23 assists, compared with the 13 that Williams had for the Yankees in that time.

What Damon will give the Yankees is the game's best leadoff hitter - in his opinion, at least. That is what Damon called himself in a television interview the day he signed with the Yankees.

Asked at his Yankee Stadium news conference on Friday what made him the best leadoff hitter, he said: "I believe it has to be the total number of pitches I see to help get the starting pitchers out of the game sooner than they want to be, the ability to drive in runs, the ability to score runs, get on base. You have to be a dominant player. You can't just run into outs."

Nor will he become No.4 in the pantheon of great Yankees center fielders.